InvestMidwest will focus on life sciences, IT

The 2005 InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum has received 80 applications from 17 states, a record number of states from which applications have originated for the event.

The forum provides high-growth companies a chance to present themselves to prospective investors. A committee representing legal, business management, investment and banking firms is screening applications to pick as many as 30 companies to make presentations at the event, scheduled for April 21-22 at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Presenters are chosen based on their potential to generate $20 million in annual revenue growth within five years and on their management teams, products or services, marketing strategies, market opportunities and financial summaries, event organizers said in a written release Thursday. Organizers expect to announce the chosen companies by mid-March.

Life sciences and information technology companies will make presentations at this year's event, the first time the event has featured two categories of presenting companies since its inception in 2000. Venture capitalists from the Kauffman Fellows Program will attend.

Since the forum's inception, presenting companies have raised more than $200 million in equity investments.